“The HPCA has done a fraud in the name of cricket. The members of the association are part of the same family or party, and all the players are non-Himachal residents. The body was converted into a company from a society without getting any approval from the government,” he said. “The Registrar of Cooperative societies has been asked to send a notice to HPCA. The state government will act to confiscate its properties.”

Virbhadra’s statement comes after the Vigilance and Anti Corruption Bureau, during a recent investigation, found that the address shown on the HPCA’s registration papers was fictitious.

The Anurag Thakur-led HPCA was first registered in Kanpur on July 14, 2005. The company continued to function in Kanpur till 2011, after which its headquarters were shifted to Chandigarh. The HPCA’s trouble started on August 1, 2013 when the state Vigilance and Anti Corruption Bureau registered a cheating case against it in Dharamsala, Kangra.

When contacted HPCA president Anurag Thakur denied the charges and said they are victim of political vendetta.

“We merged the society into a company for the benefit of the cricket. We were compelled to do it as the Congress government wanted to grab the HPCA by introducing a Sports Bill in Vidhan Sabha,” he said.

“By doing so the HPCA was beyond the control of the state government. I want to make it clear that HPCA is not a private limited company and everything has been done under the law.”